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Looking for fertile ground to make talent grow? VIB is the place to be!

17 December 2018

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When visiting the VIB labs, I am always struck by the energy, the enthusiasm and the passion of young and not-so-young people from all around the world pursuing their dream of helping to cure widespread and severe diseases and finding new methods of sustainable food production for the ever-growing world population.

I think that we can say that in its 22 years, VIB has become an attractive place for many scientists, and there are many reasons why. From the beginning, we have always strived to offer a stimulating environment in which people can shape their expertise in science and technology. Through proper guidance of world renowned group leaders and experts, as well as access to cutting-edge facilities and training, people can grow and become independent scientists. Besides the scientific training, VIB is quite unique in offering training in skill development and career guidance.

This combination enhances the employability of the PhD students and postdocs in particular, as they only stay with VIB for a restricted number of years. When looking at career prospects, more and more people come to realize that there is a broad spectrum of possibilities in the Flanders region through the strong network between VIB, academia and the biotech and pharma industries. So, it is not only VIB, but the whole collaborative network around it that makes VIB attractive.

Over the years we have seen that the face of science is changing. Scientific output, measured by the number of publications in high impact journals remains important, of course, but more and more emphasis is being put on other aspects of a stimulating environment, namely the well-being of all people working in the institute. So far, initiatives have been taken to make people feel welcome, to increase diversity, pay attention to the home-work balance, health, and to help people when times get rough. I hereby wish to thank the VIB-wide task force on well-being for their efforts in making this happen. Being a scientist is a career choice with many challenges and therefore we want people to feel supported and encouraged in what they do.

We at headquarters wish to continue making VIB a great place, where talent can flourish, and successes can be shared, and with the advancement of science with ample benefit and relevance for society as the ultimate goal. Marijke Lein, HR Director